Nothing explains why the Phone 3a Pro ended up with a giant camera
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
If you go into the gallery, the accessibility bubble mostly covers the right nav arrow, which feels deeply ironic.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
Too bad it doesn’t have a headphone jack. That’s the only thing my phone is missing and it would be the only reason I’d ever upgrade.
Upvote
7
(11
/
-4)
HuntingManatees
Ars Centurion
OK, so hear me out -- what if zooming in the camera instead extended the top edge of the phone?
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
Upvote
8
(9
/
-1)
I'm 99% sure that's just random clothing they're reselling as "Branded Apparel" to go along with their "Nothing" branding being tongue-in-cheek, literal nothing. But that's the joke, see, there is no brand.
I really think they may have found the only branding worse than X.
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
I wonder how much the motivation for not executing that idea is to keep the device as light as possible though. I expect the battery is the densest component, so adding making the battery a couple millimeter deeper would more than double the weight of most phones, which would not be comfortable for most users.
Upvote
6
(6
/
0)
Personally, I call that phone abuse, since the last I looked, they're not really designed to be sat upon.
But the asymmetry is admittedly at least an abuse of aesthetics, IMHO. As others have said, it would be better overall to make the case flush with the camera "bump" and add battery capacity than to make them look like they ran out of money designing the thing to begin with.
One does wonder if it's a supply chain issue where they can only get batteries in specific thicknesses. But you'd THINK that would be the case.
And speaking of cases, all they'd need to do is add some waterproof contacts to the backside, and make a case with an added battery that can be charged with the phone. It may not be a wireless recharging system (though that could probably be managed) but at least it would create a way to "upgrade" the battery life over time by buying a new battery for the case, or a new case. Either option keeps the phone in your hands and not in the hands of someone who has to swap it out.
Upvote
3
(3
/
0)
I'm with you 100%. Ryan responded that most phones live in cases that go flush with the camera, but that's complete BS too. They just make a lip around the camera bump, but the rest of the case is not raised to that same level, so if you lay it on its back, it still doesn't lay flat. Do you have any idea how long and hard I had to look to find a case that would just lay flat on it's back? Does no one set their phone down like that anymore? WTF?! JUST GIVE US MORE BATTERY AND MAKE THE DAMN THING FLAT ARGH!!!@@11
Upvote
3
(5
/
-2)
The ledge on my pixel has hooked and pulled things out of my pockets so many times I've had to learn to flip it around before pocketing it.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I have a Spigen case for an iPhone 16 Pro Max that has small "feet" at the corners of the phone so it lays flat on its back.
The case that was provided with the Nothing Phone 2a similarly has "feet" at all corners which make it lay flat.
Anyway, I've had the Nothing Phone 2a for a while, and it's a decent phone.
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
I briefly worked for a real Vandelay Industries in South Florida. No import/export, they did online marketing for rehab clinics.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I think it looks awesome. I wish more devices would hearken back to the design era where they tried to make things look eye-catching and interesting, instead of the modern, minimalist "I'm too cool to care" thing.
Even the company name/branding might be trying a little too hard, but I admire sincerity!
Even the company name/branding might be trying a little too hard, but I admire sincerity!
Upvote
2
(4
/
-2)
I’ve never seriously considered putting a phone in my back pocket - I don’t trust them to survive being sat on. Front pocket, yes (even with Pro Max sizes, so far that hasn’t been difficult, at last with the sort of jeans I wear). But even there, as bump gets bigger it’ll eventually be a problem.
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
This is not an idle concern: the only phone I’ve ever managed to crack was a flip phone that inadvertently ended up as a cushion between my buttock and serrated anti-slip steel floor. I suspect an iPhone would have survived that particular encounter, as it is much more sturdy than that plastic wonder, but not if I had slipped butt-down onto the floor, as opposed to simply sitting down carelessly.
With that said, the bump would have to be quite a bit thicker for pocketing to be a problem. That could happen as the sensor becomes bigger and bigger, but I suspect we’ll reach a saturation point on that pretty soon, as a large sensor have usability issues of their own: the depth of field becomes too shallow for casual use, and the minimum focusing distance becomes too long. Neither is a big deal if you’re a photography enthusiast who’s trying to replace a large-sensor compact or a DSLR, but they can be annoying if you are a rank amateur who bought the phone for other things and just want something that takes photos without quibbles.
(On the issue of depth of field, it’s worth noting that some model train enthusiasts deliberately choose small-sensor compact cameras to record their work, because using an expensive DSLR with a nice lens can easily result in nothing about the miniature track being in focus except for the front panel of one train set.)
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
If you're doing the same thing as everyone else, why should someone buy your product instead of the more well established ones? If you want to compete, you need to be different, and appeal to a market segment that isn't currently being catered to.
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
SubWoofer2
Ars Tribunus Militum
Yep. The real dealbreaker waves and says "over here!" while the chat is about something to do with cameras.
Upvote
0
(2
/
-2)
It's the Silicon Valley hipstery naming convention taken to the absolute extreme.
Upvote
1
(2
/
-1)
I bought the 2A too early. I quite like this design, as it is not the ever same flat, one color back, and it's bulky so that it fits nicely in the hand without me constantly having to worry about the phone slipping through the fingers. Even though I am not convinced that all the little gaps in the back will be a good thing, I'm looking forward to what the next version of the 3a is going to look like. I'm not a fan of the big camera bump, but if the periscope optical zoom holds up to the advertisement and expectations, it's something I can overlook for a better zoom.
Last edited:
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
You mean like the OnePlus 7 Pro or Asus Zenfone 6?I'm waiting for them to make the bump telescope outward when you activate the camera... like a pocket camera from back in the day
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
"...we want to make sure each product is worth the Nothing name" is a line that was delivered with absolutely no irony whatsoever.
Upvote
5
(7
/
-2)
My personal experience with Nothing was very negative. They send phones out using budget delivery agents who stole the phone after photographing it on the doorstep with a pair of shoes taken from my porch and arranged to look like I was there to receive it. After spending months claiming they were investigating, Nothing then claimed it had been delivered so wasn't their problem. The bank reversed the card charge after the usual multi-month wait. Apt name.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
Remember old Nokias with swappable body shells? I treat modern phones the same; like they had come unfinished from factory and I need to provide the shell (ie case).
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I have been using a Nothing 2(a) for the last 3 months. Amazing battery life, very clean OS, no duplicate apps (almost everything is Google with a couple of nothing apps for specific phone features), so much better than most Android phones.
No bloat, no crap, best smartphone experience i have had.
No bloat, no crap, best smartphone experience i have had.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I think that ship has sailed, and is no longer a dealbreaker for most. I'm happily headphone wire-free; the number of times I'd accidentally snag headphone cable(s) on door handles and have them ripped off my head was frankly embarrassing.
Upvote
8
(8
/
0)
As one of the people who like the design, it would have been nice to read about their software support policy and how the photos compare to the Google Pixels. I am assuming that things like wireless charging and NFC are standard fare nowadays.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
Batteries are heavy. Users ask for bigger batteries, but absolutely hate them in practice.
Upvote
3
(4
/
-1)
That was a brilliant advert - you can easily tell it was English. The Chinese woman and English man to emphasise the UK connection, the British weather, the look of utter boredom and disconnection as an antidote to the typical fashion advert - it's art, genre-subverting.
If you are American and understood it, congratulations, you are more culturally aware than 99% of your fellow citizens.
Upvote
-1
(1
/
-2)
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
How do I reply to messages from ars staff added to the end of my posts? Can we please get a reply button for them?
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
The laws of optics mean that the only way to improve the camera is to make the sensor bigger and therefore the lens must be thicker to give the necessary focal length and aspherical elements.
What has been achieved in that direction is truly astonishing, but there is a limit - in this case the 650nm wavelength of deep red light sets an absolute limit on the subpixel size, in practice a 1 sq micrometre pixel meaning a maximum of 1Mpx per sq mm.
(Note that I mean engineering pixels containing 3 or 4 subpixels, not marketing pixels which are subpixels.)
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
Nothing say they don't want to follow the crowd and make something different. By which they mean a conventional smartphone design with a slightly wacky back that kind of lights up a little which most people are probably going to cover with a case. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it. Their designs aren't unique or interesting enough to warrant all the fanfare. It's still a glass rectangle.
Upvote
0
(1
/
-1)
You are right about the back pocket. I kept multiple Androids and iPhones in my back right pocket before the 8+. Every phone since then is too big and physically flexes, except the iPhone SE and a couple of the Xiaomi As. I bent to death an 8+, a Note XX, and one of the iPhone pros before changing my pocket.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Upvote
-1
(3
/
-4)